some of us -- like the person behind this keyboard -- are waiting patiently for the Conservative Party of Canada to respond to our query on a curiously circumspect new outreach campaign that was first reported by Xtra reporter Dale Smith, who found himself on the other end of a distinctly odd unsolicited phone call yesterday afternoon:

A female voice on the other end said that she was calling from "Supporter Services" on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and she asked if I thought it was important for Canada to support the State of Israel. For the record, I told her I was a journalist and cut off the call, but when I posted this on Twitter, I had a few other people tell me they'd been told similar stories. Intrigued -- not so much by the choice of topic, but by how this particular operative styled herself as calling on behalf of the prime minister as prime minister, and not, as would seem more appropriate, as the leader of the Conservative Party, as well as the reference to "Supporter Services" rather than the party itself ...